Buying Avios is an piece of cake mode to top upwardly your British Airways and at present, Qatar Airways points balances. The best utilise of those points is for cheap final-minute Business and Economy Form flights. Fly Qantas in Australia, American Airlines in the The states, Japan Airlines and Cathay Pacific in Asia, and Qatar Airways worldwide.

The offer to look out for is a 50% bonus on Avios; this usually only happens twice a year. While at that place isn't an offer at present, it's still good to see where y'all might benefit from buying Avios afterward.

Why this guide is useful

Avios are great for redeeming short-to-medium haul flights on oneworld partner airlines. For example, you'll need 12,500 Avios for a one-style Business Class hop between Sydney and Brisbane (versus 18,400 Qantas Points). Purchasing Avios with a fifty% bonus means that you can score this flying for ~AU$370, including taxes. Cash tickets usually retail from AU$800.

You volition need an active British Airways Executive Club account to have advantage of this offer. If you haven't already washed and then, you can sign upwards for a British Airways Executive Club account hither. You must likewise have at least one Avios point in your Executive Social club account. Otherwise, you will encounter this very abrupt message:

Avios error message | Point Hacks

Since belatedly March 2022, you tin can also transfer Avios betwixt British Airways and Qatar Airways Privilege Guild. Qatar Airways charges merely 90,000 Avios ane-style betwixt Commonwealth of australia and Europe in Business Course. Taxes are non as extreme with no fuel surcharges, although a booking fee of US$70 per segment has been quietly reintroduced.

Withal, the overall price is better than with Qantas Frequent Flyer, where you lot're looking at 139,200 to 159,000 Qantas Points for the aforementioned flights, plus at least AU$600 in fees and charges from Commonwealth of australia (more from Europe).

An example Qatar Airways booking with Avios.

Ownership ninety,000 Avios with a 50% bonus costs as little equally Usa$ane,656 (AU$two,200). This isn't too shabby for a one-way Business flight to Europe (unless you can become a return cash fare for under $6,000 during a sale).

Past offer details

Final updated: 4 March 2022

There are no current Avios promotions. This guide volition be updated when the newest offering is released. The previous offer is displayed below.

  • Current offer: 50% bonus (non-tiered).
  • Ends: 24 March 2022 at 23:59 GMT.
  • All-time value redemptions: short-to-medium non-end domestic Business Form flights in Australia, the U.s., Asia and Nippon.
  • Book awards online or phone: most awards can be searched for and booked on the British Airways Executive Order website. If not, expect long wait times, which are reduced if you call their number in Singapore.

You tin can buy between 1,000 and 200,000 Avios (excluding the bonus) during this promotion. (This is double the maximum points you can usually buy in one year.) At the top end, you lot tin can buy 300,000 Avios (with the bonus) for a total of US$v,523. This equates to one.84 US cents per mile.

Purchase British Airways Avios hither →

Note: Avios expire after 36 months of inactivity in your account. Brand sure to keep your account active by earning/redeeming points regularly.

Why it might be worth buying Avios in advance

More often than not, we'd suggest against ownership points without a specific redemption in mind. Only British Airways Avios could be the exception to the rule. This is because Avios are nifty for brusk-observe domestic trips when prices are often heaven-high.

For this reason, many experienced points collectors like to make sure they always keep a supply on hand.

The basics: British Airways and Iberia

Avios are the frequent flyer loyalty currency of IAG (International Consolidated Airlines Group). They're the parent company of British Airways and Iberia, too as a function-owner of Qatar Airways. Points tin be transferred betwixt the three programs with ease.

In that location are ii separate (yet intertwined) Avios programs:

  • British Airways Executive Guild
  • Iberia Plus

The price for BA and Iberia Plus Avios differs on a few factors. British Airways Executive Social club will be of the near employ to Australia-based travellers, but charges for Avios in Us Dollars which is the most expensive.

Iberia is a niche airline, but it offers cheaper rates when buying Avios in Euros with a promotion.

What are the Avios sweet spots?

Here are three examples in Australia:

  1. A ane-way ticket from either Brisbane to Sydney or Sydney to Melbourne both fall into their lowest bracket at under 600 miles. At this level, a ane-manner ticket will set up you back six,000 Avios in Economy or 12,500 in Business. Compare this to eight,000 and 18,400 Qantas Points respectively.
  2. Brisbane to Melbourne is over the 600-mile mark then will fall into the next bracket: 9,000 Avios in Economy or 16,500 in Business organisation. Once once more, this is considerably less than Qantas.
  3. Melbourne to Perth is 11,000 Avios in Economy or 22,000 in Business and Sydney/Brisbane to Perth is 13,000 Avios in Economy or 38,750 in Business. This is nearly the maximum distance where purchasing points outright can represent whatever value.

Dissimilar most other purchased miles, Avios can provide good value for Economic system flights, specially when redeeming last-minute. And different on their international routes, last-minute Qantas domestic awards are easy to come by. Like brusque hops can be useful effectually Asia on other oneworld partners such as Nippon Airlines and Communist china Pacific, or in the The states on American Airlines and Alaska Airlines.

Read how Matt saved up to 75% on flights by buying Avios →

How are Avios awards priced?

British Airways Executive Club has a distance-based laurels chart (similar to Qantas), with each segment pricing separately. British Airways-operated flights offer peak and off-top accolade pricing, meaning that the number of points you pay will depend on the date yous wish to travel.

Equally of 2021, here is the current British Airways partner award chart:

Miles travelled Economy Premium Economy Business concern Offset
ane-650 miles half dozen,000 9,000 12,500 24,000
651-1,151 miles 9,000 12,500 xvi,500 33,000
1,152-ii,000 miles eleven,000 16,500 22,000 44,000
2,001-iii,000 miles thirteen,000 25,250 38,750 51,500
three,001-4,000 miles twenty,750 41,250 62,000 82,500
four,001-5,500 miles 25,750 51,500 77,250 103,000
5,501-half dozen,500 miles 31,000 62,000 92,750 123,750
6,501-7,000 miles 36,250 72,250 108,250 144,250
7,001+ miles 51,500 103,000 154,500 206,000

You'll also need to pay taxes and surcharges on tiptop. British Airways have a well-earned reputation for their high fuel surcharges. For Qantas domestic flights, expect to pay around £24.ten per person, per flying.

Don't have enough Avios? You can too opt to pay more greenbacks and utilize fewer Avios on reward flights. Sometimes, y'all'll actually be better off going downward this route! See the example below: you can salvage 33,000 Avios in exchange for paying £280 (~AU$512) more. You're substantially buying those Avios for 1.55 AU cents each, which is far cheaper than whatever of the 'buy points promotions' nosotros have listed to a higher place.

British Airways reward seat search

When to transfer Avios over to other airlines

One rare feature of the diverse Avios programs is the ability to transfer points betwixt each other at a 1:1 ratio.

The main reward here is being able to admission Iberia Plus's redemption rules with your purchased British Airways Executive Social club Avios. Or, purchase Iberia Plus Avios and move them over to British Airways if at that place is a different deal running betwixt the two programs.

Of course, with Qatar Airways Privilege Lodge joining the mix, it gives yous more options notwithstanding again. Travelling to Europe or the Usa in Business is now much easier. You tin can transfer British Airways Avios to Qatar Airways and back at a 1:one ratio.

Iberia A330 Business Class
Information technology can often make sense to transfer your Avios from British Airways to Iberia Plus for travel on Iberia itself.

I Iberia sweet spot is Zone four and 5 Business Class redemptions. This allows i-manner bookings in Business organization Class from New York/Boston to Madrid for 34,000 Avios and Chicago/Los Angeles/Miami to Madrid for 42,500 Avios.

By comparison, these are 50,000 and 62,500 Avios on British Airways. Also, Iberia Plus doesn't levy fuel surcharges when flying on Iberia-operated flights, increasing the savings.

Head For Points has a complete guide on how to transfer points between the 2 programs. I primal thing to annotation is that your Iberia Plus business relationship must exist xc days sometime and must have earned at least i Avios point to be able to buy and transfer miles.

The easiest style to fulfil this requirement is to just credit your adjacent Qantas or oneworld flight, car hire or hotel stay to Iberia Plus since it's a oneworld member airline. Iberia Plus also regularly runs discounted award redemption offers.

Making bookings using Avios

The British Airways website is one of the nigh complete search engines around when information technology comes to displaying partner accolade availability. It includes Qantas and the other oneworld airlines that fly to Australia. Y'all tin can meet exactly how many reward seats are remaining.

British Airways reward seat search

While near itineraries should be bookable online, you may need to call up if you're having difficulties. You might become shorter wait times by contacting their Singapore part at +65 6622 1747.

An alternative fashion to go Avios: transfer from Marriott Bonvoy and/or Amex Membership Rewards

The other easy way for Australians to acquire Avios is by transferring through Marriott Bonvoy, which is a points partner of American Express Membership Rewards. If you lot're brusque of Avios and Marriott Bonvoy has its own 'buy points promotion', y'all could consider going down that avenue instead.

In 2021, I went down this road when I wanted to secure Easter 2022 Business Class seats with Avios, but only Marriott Bonvoy was running a promotion at the time.

Summing upward

The best use of Avios is for Business organization Course travel on short- to medium-haul flights in Australia, Asia and the US. With Qatar Airways thrown into the mix, it certainly opens up more options besides. Go along an eye out for futurity Avios sales and you may be able to secure a Business Class flight at a reasonable toll.

Read all our other guides for buying points →

This content contains chapter links from which Signal Hacks may earn commissions from transactions generated from new customers, bookings and general enquiries. Discover out more than here.

Thanks to TK from the Bespeak Hacks Community for writing up this guide to buying Avios! Updates past Brandon Loo.